It’s nearly time for Futbol Club Cincinnati to learn its Major League Soccer fate.

We think.

The MLS Board of Governors is scheduled to meet in New York City on Thursday, and expansion is expected to be discussed.

Beyond that, not much about Thursday’s meeting is confirmed and more uncertainties than certainties surround what's been built up by league officials for months as the final phase of the current expansion process.

It's not even clear if a vote to admit teams will happen Thursday. Some suspect one might not take place, or that the results won't be immediately revealed.

It's really all up to the people in the room Thursday – two representatives from each of MLS’ 23 existing clubs.

So, let the waiting game begin in Cincinnati. In the meantime, here's what we know heading into Thursday's MLS Board of Governors meeting:

• The Board of Governors meetings – even ones that haven't focused primarily on expansion – are typically shrouded in some level secrecy. It's been common over the years for agenda items, and even the exact location of the meetings themselves, to be kept out of public view. And that's not usually a big deal. Thursday's meeting just happens to be a higher-stakes occasion. Issues of great public interest are usually discussed following the meetings by MLS Commissioner Don Garber at press events, such as at the MLS All-Star Game in Chicago when he heaped praise on FC Cincinnati.

• When expansion is discussed Thursday, and it's confirmed that expansion is on the agenda for Thursday, the "BoG" can decide to not convene a vote. The board isn't bound to any kind of deadline and will essentially make the decisions it wants how and when it wants to. For instance, the Board of Governors can request more information if they require.

• It's not even clear how many teams will be admitted, or when the league will announce when they're admitted. Over the last month, hard dates purported to be set for voting and announcing the outcome of the votes have dissolved and faded into the background. Few in the national media, if anyone, truly know when the information from the Board of Governors meeting will be disseminated.

And that whole "two expansion teams by the end of 2017" thing we've been talking about all along? Yeah, it's not even 100 percent clear two teams are getting in. MLS officials have suggested that if the Board of Governors finds two or more expansion organizations to be unfit for admittance to the league right now, they could opt to accept just one team.

• With that said, it's believed the four expansion finalist organizations in Cincinnati, Sacramento, Nashville and Detroit have provided the vast majority of information they're able to provide. All four organizations were in New York City Dec. 6 to book-ended the years-long expansion process with what amounted to closing arguments before MLS Commissioner Don Garber and the league’s expansion committee.

Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber arrived Tuesday after 9 a.m. He deplaned from a jet in a Lunken Airport hangar and was greeted by a throng of chanting FC Cincinnati supporters.
The Enquirer/Pat Brennan

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The clubs’ proposals were probed. Some needed more time to produce answers, and even FC Cincinnati said it could be asked to respond to follow-up questions. It’s expected the clubs provided answers to follow-up questions in the intervening days leading into Thursday's meeting.

• The MLS expansion committee that attended the Dec. 6 meetings will use the information gathered to make a recommendation to the Board of Governors on which organization or organizations should be admitted to MLS. It's unclear if that recommendation has already been presented to the Board of Governors.

• Expect the recommendation from the expansion committee to be an influential piece of the expansion puzzle because that group was tasked with doing significant legwork in the process. They were the ones probing the finalists' final proposals, as well as seeking out vital information to any unanswered questions. The expansion committee is made up of the following individuals: Jonathan Kraft (chair, owner and investor in New England Revolution), Cliff Illig (principal owner, Sporting KC), Bill McGuire (Minnesota United), Andrew Hauptman (Chicago Fire), Jay Sugarman (Philadelphia Union) and Joe Roth (Seattle Sounders).

• There are no consensus favorites to be admitted to the league.

• It's believed FC Cincinnati had a strong showing at the Dec. 6 meetings. FC Cincinnati's higher-ups and Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley told the story of the club and the city, and those are stories that happen to be strong and very much intertwined at the moment. It has been suggested by national media members in the days since their presentation that FC Cincinnati's stadium situation might have been of concern to MLS, although team President and General Manager Jeff Berding appears confident the club has now checked the stadium box, so to speak.